{"id":14965,"date":"2022-01-27T09:57:32","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T14:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/?post_type=cw_post&p=14965"},"modified":"2022-03-08T16:36:11","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T21:36:11","slug":"building-21s-studio-model-designing-learning-experiences-for-engagement-and-impact","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/building-21s-studio-model-designing-learning-experiences-for-engagement-and-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"Building 21\u2019s Studio Model: Designing Learning Experiences for Engagement and Impact"},"content":{"rendered":"

Links to other posts in this series by Sandra Moumoutjis are at the end of this article.<\/em><\/p>\n

As we continue our journey to personalized and competency-based education, we need to rethink the design of our teaching and learning experiences. In my blog that focused on Building 21\u2019s Teacher Competencies to Facilitate Competency-Based Learning<\/a>, I outlined some of the shifts in mindsets and practices that need to occur with the adults to transform our learning environments from being teacher-centered to student-centered. In a CBE model, teachers become facilitators of student learning, meeting students where they are and providing instruction, guidance, and feedback to support students in their progression along the competency learning continuum. Students are given more choice and voice in how and where they demonstrate their learning and, with the teacher, become co-designers of their learning pathway.<\/p>\n

Competency-based education requires demonstrations of learning. These demonstrations should be rigorous and engaging performance-based assessments that are aligned to competencies and require students to apply their learning in a meaningful way. Focusing on the skills of the competency allows students to work on mastering academic and nonacademic skills that are essential to their post-secondary success. The chart below shows how performance-based assessments are both higher in rigor along the Bloom\u2019s Taxonomy continuum and higher in complexity along the Webb\u2019s Depth of Knowledge continuum:<\/p>\n

\"Chart<\/p>\n

We developed the chart below to outline some of the key instructional shifts that need to occur when we work with schools to transition from a traditional education model to a CBE model:<\/p>\n

\"Table<\/p>\n

For us, at the heart of these instructional shifts is making learning expectations consistent and transparent for all students across all learning experiences through our Building 21 Competency Framework<\/a> and making learning more engaging and relevant to students through inquiry-based, project-based, and\/or problem-based learning. These instructional shifts are also very much about equity. Oftentimes, we think of project-based or problem-based learning as either a reward for doing well or as a fun break from the normal curriculum. Sometimes we withhold these real-world learning experiences from students because we do not think they are ready and we focus on lower-level skill instruction instead. Especially now, during this pandemic, we are seeing students with more unfinished learning. But instead of engaging them in higher-level thinking and meaningful activities, we are remediating through traditional skill instruction. This approach is only creating a bigger gap in learning, and disproportionately for children of color.<\/p>\n

In the article Zaretta Hammond on Equity and Student Engagement<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> Ms. Hammond warns against compliance-based education:<\/p>\n

I think one of the biggest mistakes we make, particularly for struggling students, who are disproportionately children of color, is that we employ a pedagogy of compliance. I mean, if you look at what’s being put in front of these students sometimes, it’s kind of mind-numbing. There’s no complexity to the work. It lacks any real-life context to address the typical student question of “What’s the use of me learning this?” The learning is too decontextualized and compartmentalized. <\/em><\/p>\n

Later in the article, Ms. Hammond explains why she is very concerned that the focus on \u201clearning loss\u201d during the pandemic might make schools double down on compliance-driven education:<\/p>\n

\u2026we talk about equity, but we go back to a pedagogy of compliance, especially for BIPOC students who may be behind. We see it in talk about high-dose tutoring and more pull-out programs focused on remediation. Schools say they don’t have time for project-based learning, or maker spaces, or any of that because they have so much ground to make up. But we make up ground by actually using intellectual curiosity to turbocharge students’ engagement. We need to water up the curriculum and instruction, not water it down.<\/em><\/p>\n

At Building 21, our instructional model is designed around the belief that all students should experience engaging and relevant problem-based\/project-based learning and that unfinished learning can be addressed through personalized support, instruction, and feedback. We design our learning experiences to differentiate instruction, meeting students where they are on the continua and giving students multiple opportunities to show progress and growth in their competency portfolios.<\/p>\n

To realize the potential of competency-based learning, we must fundamentally shift how we design learning experiences to ensure that they:<\/p>\n